


Voeld

by jarofbeees



Series: Heleus [2]
Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/F, Flirting, Fluff, Interspecies Awkwardness, Interspecies Relationship(s), Kissing, Sexual Tension, Sharing Body Heat, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2017-03-31
Packaged: 2018-10-13 03:15:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10505286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jarofbeees/pseuds/jarofbeees
Summary: Spending too long on a frozen world leaves Sara Ryder wondering if she's pushed Vetra too hard. But she's willing to fix it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> (I still haven't finished the game, so please do not post spoilers in the comments!)

It’s probably just coincidence Voeld rhymes with ‘cold.’

At least Sara finds it ironic and all too convenient. Sure, the whole linguistics are over two million light years removed, but c’mon. It makes for a funny joke than angarans don’t laugh at. 

Neither does her crew, she realizes 

Liam curses under his breath as he yanks his suit off. No quips or light hearted comments. Just a low grumble about endless ice. Dr. T’Perro is rounding the corner with scratchy, gray emergency blankets. 

“Ryder.” Her voice is low, motherly. “Do you know how close you were to overwhelming your life support?”

“I know, I know.” She flexes her fingers, just starting to feel the blood pool in the ends again. Her face stings as she talks. From the corner of her eye, she catches Vetra stalking off from the cargo hold to her little nook of the ship. 

_“Shit,”_ she thinks. _“Maybe I pushed too hard._ ” 

She’s still learning about turians. Granted, she didn’t have _much_ of a reason to know about them before outside of the basics. It’s not like you need to know the inner workings of your friends. But Vetra’s different. 

For one, she’s her girlfriend. Well, sort of. There’s not exactly a rule book on interspecies dating (or at least, if there was, they left it back in the Milky Way). They kissed - Sara still gets light headed thinking about it - but the fireworks paused and kett and Remnant and big, ugly Andromeda creatures all took priority. They share these fleeting little glances and occasional touches, but it’s…

Sara knows this needs more. If not for her, then for Vetra. 

She’s doing that thing where she’s been staring off into space (Dad used to chastise her for it). Dr. T’Perro is looking at her, brow furrowed, arms outstretched with blankets. Liam’s already retreated with one wrapped around him. 

“Everything alright?” Dr. T’Perro softens.

“Can I take two?”

“Take as many as you need, Ryder.”

“Thanks.” Undoing the last of her suit, she takes off toward her quarters. She fumbles between holding the blankets and typing in a quick message, but manages. 

‘Come to my room? Please?’

Sara plops the blankets on the couch, then busies herself at her desk. She’s moved her dad’s old coffeepot in, half sentimental, half for convenience. She’s also found a small crate of something akin to turian coffee. Maybe she can’t pronounce the name, but the salarian she bought if from confirmed its all dextro. By the time she’s got two mugs brewed, her door opens. 

“You wanted me?”

Vetra stalks in, arms around her chest. She’s exceptionally prickly. Sara jokes about having a ‘spiky girlfriend,’ but she’s never meant it based on personality. Vetra is nurturing, warm. She thinks too much about the little things. She’d surprise you with a box of junk food just to smirk at your reaction. 

This _isn’t_ Vetra. 

“H-hey.” Sara can’t hold back the stutter in her voice. She’s nervous, afraid this won’t work. She’s afraid of doing this wrong, or worse - offending Vetra. Maybe it’s not as hard as she’s making it out to be, but as she’s turning around with both cups of hot liquid in her hand, her heart is thundering in her chest. 

“Smells good.” Vetra sniffs the air, her mandibles flexing slightly. “What is it?”

“I, uh, forgot what it’s called. But it’s safe for you. And warm. Come sit?” Sara motions to the couch. Vetra follows.

“It’s nuvurix.” Vetra takes the cup Sara offers, testing a sip. There’s a moment where her mandibles jut slightly upward and fall back down. Sara quirks a brow, wondering if that’s a good sign or bad. “How’d you find this?”

“Maybe I have my contacts, too.” Sara’s eyes crinkle at the sound of Vetra’s chuckle. She loves that sound.

 _“Wow, I’m in too deep,_ ” she thinks, her stomach flipping on itself. 

Vetra takes her time with another sip, but she’s still stiff, like she’s on edge. Something’s not right.

“Is...is everything okay?” Sara takes a seat beside Vetra, offering a blanket to the turian. She wraps one around herself, almost forgetting how deep the cold sank through her skin. With the constant excitement and new experiences of Andromeda, it’s easy to forget the basics. Stay hydrated, stay warm. Stay safe. She’s bad enough about watching out for herself. Maybe, Sara wonders, she’s bad about her crew too. Her heart stutters a beat at the thought of Vetra faltering. Her hand is on Vetra’s knee before she thinks about it. 

“I’m fine, Sara.” Vetra leans back into the couch, blanket draped around her stiff shoulders. “It just...it takes turians forever to warm up. Did I ever tell you I hate the cold.”

“I worked you too hard.” Sara’s voice is low, defeated. Vetra perks up, her hand clasping Sara’s shoulder. 

“You need me out there. Sometimes you’re a little too reckless and Liam doesn’t help. You’d think humans would have a natural survival instinct.” The quick flex of her mandibles lets Sara know Vetra’s teasing, but it’s only a half tease. 

“What can I say, we’re risk takers.”

“Start taking a little less risks when kett are shooting at you.”

“Or else what?” Sara can’t help the playful lilt to her voice. She’s always been this way - naturally flirty around girls she likes. But turians don’t give normal human reactions, and after a second her confidence falters. 

“Or else you’ll get shot and Dr. T’Perro will keep you in the med bay for a week.” Vetra takes a long sip from her drink, eyes shut.

“You’re no fun,” Sara mutters under her breath. She wraps her blanket further around her with one hand, setting her coffee down with the other. 

“No, I’m not fun when I’m cold.”

There’s a spark of a thought and then Sara is doing it again - acting before she thinks. She stands, dropping her blanket around her feet. Her hands work at the seam of her outershirt, unzipping the tight fitting jacket until it falls as well. She’s still in a thin tank top, but now her skin is prickling in the cool air. 

“Sara…” Vetra’s mandibles flare out, then clasp back in against her mouth. Her eyes are wide beneath her visor, following the Pathfinder’s every move. “What are you-”

“Giving you some of my warmth.” Sara takes the cup right out of Vetra’s hand, sets it on the table, then turns back to her girlfriend. Her heart is in her throat as she moves forward, sliding one leg first and then the other until she’s in Vetra’s lap, face to face with the turian. She untucks the blanket from Vetra’s shoulders, then tightly wraps it around the both of them, snuggling them in close. With their foreheads pressed together, Sara’s arms on either side of Vetra’s neck, she can feel the stutter in Vetra’s breath. 

“Sara.” Vetra says her name again and Sara feels her insides melting. There’s something about the way it rumbles out of her chest and resonates right through her. She hugs her arms tighter around the turian. 

“Feeling any warmer?”

“This….uh…” Vetra stutters. She _actually_ stutters, Sara thinks. 

_“That’s a first!”_

“I can stop if I’m suffocating you.”

“No, that’s not - It’s…” Vetra stumbles on her words. Her hands roam from couch to blanket, then to Sara’s back, unsure where exactly to land. They’re _trembling_. Suddenly, Sara feels like maybe she crossed a barrier she shouldn’t. She really wishes she had that whole lesson on interspecies dating. This shouldn’t be so hard, but now she’s anxiously swallowing a lump in her throat.

“....Did I go too far?” Sara whispers, forehead pressing against Vetra’s. Vetra blinks once, then twice. 

“You ever notice how you never see turians showing any skin?” 

“Kinda?”

“So there’s this taboo about, uh, _revealing_ too much, and I...I know you’re human, and it’s different, but -”

“I broke a big turian dating rule?”

“It’s not like that.” Vetra’s eyes dart around from Sara’s neck, to her arms, back to her chest. They’re unsure where to rest. Sara feels the chill evaporate from her as her skin burns. Every nerve comes alive, some that’ve been asleep since cryo, some for even longer. Her palms are growing sweaty, but Vetra’s not moving. She’s not pushing her away. 

“Then what _is_ it like, Vetra?” Sara’s voice drops low as she leans in and kisses gently against Vetra’s cheek. She can feel a shudder travel through the turian. 

“I’ve never had a girl - _turian_ or otherwise - get half naked for me just to warm me up.” Vetra’s claws flex into Sara’s back. She bites her lip, holding in a gasp. 

_God_ does she want to push this further, but that wasn’t the point of this. She brought Vetra here to cheer her up, to make things right and _girlfriendy_ between them. She does _not_ need to complicate things by bringing sex into the mix, no matter how much of an insatiable curiosity she’s developed about Vetra. They should take their time, Sara reminds herself. There’s no rush, no matter how much her brain says otherwise. 

“You do gotta admit,” Sara starts, running her fingers along the bumps and plates on the back of Vetra’s neck. “This is better than some itchy blanket.”

“ _Much_ better.” Vetra’s shoulders relax. Her arms flex tighter around Sara, causing a tiny gasp to escape the human. “Makes being nearly frozen almost worth it.”

“Almost?” Sara teases. “Would this make it better?” She leans down, pressing her lips against Vetra’s. Turian kisses are still something new, something she learns things from every time. Sara finds that Vetra makes this low, rumbling noise when she kisses slow and soft and takes her time to savor every second. She wants to learn more noises Vetra makes, but these things take time. And patience. 

Her thoughts blank out, mind only focusing on the physical. Before she knows it, they’re both slumped over, Sara draped over top of Vetra. It’s so warm and comfortable and _right_ \- even if they’re two completely different species.

Vetra scans over Sara before locking eyes with her. As alert as she always is, now she’s relaxed, almost dreamy. 

“I bet our drinks are cold now.”

“Sorry.” Sara giggles. “I forgot about that.”

“I did to. But you went through all the trouble, just for me. I can’t waste it.” 

“Let’s enjoy them, then.” Sara hates sliding off of her girlfriend. All she can think about is kissing and letting her hands explore, but she knows better. She knows she should give this time. They snuggle in beside each other, sharing their blanket with mugs in hand. 

“So…” Sara bumps her shoulder against Vetra. “Maybe we could, um. I dunno. Do that more often?”

“What? You invite me into your cabin and nearly seduce me?” Sara nearly spits out her coffee. 

“I didn’t -! I wasn’t -!”

“Relax, I’m teasing you.” Vetra’s laughter fills the entire cabin. “And half joking.”

“I’ll be good next time, I swear.”

“I hope not _too_ good.” Vetra’s eyes pierce right into Sara. The rumble in her voice whips up the heat in Sara’s belly like a wildfire. Sara bites her lip, consciously keeping her hands to herself. 

_“Self control. I’m a master of self control. I can_ totally _handle self control_.”

Sara gulps because she knows full well the walls holding in her self control are crumbling every second she spends around Vetra. It makes no sense why she’d fall so hard and heavy for a turian, but she’s spiraling fast and she can’t grab the slides to slow down. And if she’s being honest with herself, she _doesn’t want to._

**Author's Note:**

> god I love these two so much.
> 
> I'm most definitely going to continue this probably as another one shot (or more), so check back later!


End file.
